1. Cromartie, you absolutely are the man. That pick in the end zone was brilliance. Unfortunately, your decision to try and run the ball out from 5 yards deep in the paint was horrific. Didn’t we learn anything from Marlon McCree last year? Lay down on the ball, and we’ll take it at the 20.
2. I simply cannot understand the way the clock rules work. I thought it was pretty straightforward: if you run out of bounds, the clock stops. If you’re knocked out of bounds, the clock stops. If you’re tackled and you slide out of bounds, the clock keeps running. But in this game (like the Colts game), the clock seemed to never stop. Could someone explain it to me?
3. Norv, when you’re down by two scores with about 9 minutes left, on their 40, with 4th and 10…you go for it. I don’t care how much confidence you’ve got in the defenese; you go for it.
4. The red zone doesn’t mean that you must throw into the end zone on every down. Three times, the Patriots picked up three or four yards on 1st and Goal, making their next two plays much more manageable; you guys insisted on being too tricky – including that run off the edge on 3 and 1 inside their 5. Turner picks up one yard without even touching the ball if he goes up the gut. Don’t get cute on big plays, and don’t run the edge. Pound it.
5. While I’m stoked that Nate Kaeding is putting balls through the uprights again, he’s completely forgotten what a touchback is. At least Dave Rayner was putting kickoffs deep…before you released him. It’s tough to stop the best offense in NFL history when they start on their own 40 every time.
6. Why the hell did I doubt Phillip Rivers? That dude played after having a minor surgery on his knee this week…I take it all back. That took guts.

While I’m quite stoked to have my Sundays available for productivity once again, I’m truly bummed to see my Bolts knocked out once again. Fortunately, they’ll be back. It’s a young team, and it’ll be tough to shut down that talent again.

Technorati Tags: chargers, nfl, raiders

Tags: patriots, nfl, football, cheating

Oh yeah, football season is back.

Almost eight months ago, I sat in misery in front of this very computer terminal. Those eight months provided me with an opportunity to reflect on those things which are really important in life: good pocket protection, ball control, turnovers and yds/carry.

Needless to say, as my Chargers take the field for their first 2007 regular season game, my blood pumps with a fury that comes only with football.

Excuse me, while I get my jersey on…it’s time to roll.

Tags: chargers, football, nfl

Interesting note: the article was published on September 11, 2001. *shudder*

The Athletic Enterprise

A few weeks ago, I was sitting in Qualcomm Stadium (formerly the glorious Jack Murphy Stadium) enjoying a terrific pre-season football match-up between my beloved Chargers and the Niners. Things couldn’t have been any better, really. It was a beautiful day, my chest paint hadn’t really started smearing yet, my ballpark frank had just the right amount of relish, and the Chargers were winning. Smiling to myself, I reached for my beverage. Just as I felt the pleasant coolness of my plastic cup, the familiar sound of a whining voice passed right through the cheering of my buddies: “I can’t believe those meatheads make that much money. I could do what they do. It’s not THAT hard.” A firm believer in the theory that ignorance is America’s biggest opponent, I immediately became sickened by this lady’s opinion, and fearful for our country’s future all at once. How could she do this? Why did she have to ruin the rest of the game for me? Why do my buddies insist on rubbing my hair every time the Chargers connect for a gain? Am I the only one that gets it? Does anybody else see that professional sports represent the epitome of capitalism? Probably not. Which is why I feel it’s my moral responsibility to share this nugget of truth with the sports-crazed student body of M.I.T.

As we begin, let’s take a small quiz in the spirit of higher education.
   
Which of the following statements is said most often in America today?
A.    “Bill Gates makes way too much money.”
B.    “Successful lawyers make way too much money.”
C.    “Musicians make way too much money.”
D.    “Professional athletes make way too much money.”

Clearly, the answer is D. There is no profession in America as publicly scrutinized for compensation irregularities as that of professional athletics. Yet, is a professional athlete really ANY different from Bill Gates or Johnny Cochran? Sure, Bill Gates runs a software giant, and Cochran keeps killers out of jail, while athletes score touchdowns, hit homeruns, shoot hat tricks, or nail three-pointers. But specifics notwithstanding, there is no fundamental difference in the reason these people make so much money: they are all very good at what they do. But athletes’ salaries are consistently questioned because we, the members of society, are collectively jealous of a situation that we continue to support.

One of my favorite arguments from sports opponents is, “Athletes don’t do anything productive for society. Doctors, teachers, nurses, policemen – they should be making millions, not athletes.” Though I happen to agree with the notion that each of the aforementioned professionals may be underpaid, the argument does not checkout as valid. Personal opinion or implicit value really don’t mean a thing in a capitalistic environment. Let’s compare, for one second, water and Beanie Babies. We absolutely cannot survive without water; it is essential to human life (most life for that matter). On the other hand, we have Beanie Babies. Though many may argue that life cannot go on without them, I can assure you that one CAN survive without Beanie Babies. So, why is a gallon of water so much cheaper than a Beanie Baby? Because the implicit value of a commodity, or service, has no relevance in our economy; how much of that product or service we demand dictates it all.

This may come as a shock to many, but the United States of America – the wonderful nation of freedom and hope, the light on the hill, the place where dreams are made – is a capitalistic country! Supply and demand inherently regulate cost and availability of nearly everything in our society (economists, please cut me slack – I know there’s much more to it). Thus, when all of us baseball fans trot down to Fenway Park, purchase tickets, buy jerseys, eat ballpark franks, and chant, “Yankees Suck,” we’re demanding all-star baseball players! Believe it or not, every time you tune your television set into a game at home, you’re contributing to that market as well (the Yankees received an estimated $52.5 million for local broadcast rights in 1997). “But, there are thousands of professional athletes in the world. Why do we have to pay so much for a few?” I don’t know how to say this any other way, but teams aren’t in the league to lose. You want them to win, you pay money for them to win, and they shill it out so that you keep coming back. It’s business! Similarly, athletes haven’t spent their entire lives perfecting their athletic prowess so that people can pat them on the back and say, “Great job, pal. You were super tonight.” When the day’s over, just like anyone else, they want to take a paycheck home. It just so happens that, if they’re that good, their paycheck is a lot bigger than yours or mine.

Perhaps the most amusing of all the arguments against professional athletics is, “How can we pay these athletes millions of dollars a year, when this country has people on welfare?” You’ve used a key word: ‘we.’ I don’t know how ‘we’ can continue to do it. But I’ll tell you one thing for sure, ‘we’ aren’t going to stop paying them so much money unless ‘we’ stop watching their games on television, being patrons at their games, buying their hats, their jerseys, etc. What about this? “How can we pay these farmhands hundreds of dollars a year, when this country has people on welfare?” I haven’t heard that question in a while.

In closing, I’d like to ask one last question of our academic community. If we detract from the success of some, in order to compensate for the lack of success of others, what kind of economic system would we have then? If the government controls professional sports, instead of the consumer, and disperses the money where it sees fit, are we capitalist? No. Such a notion is the first step toward communism and socialism. But, in the spirit of such a thought, I’ve got an idea. How about we completely take control of Major League Baseball. Since some players are worth hundreds of millions, let’s take them out of the picture, and replace each one with the equivalent number of workers at minimum wage. Now that we have those people off of welfare, we can put them to work making baskets or something useful in the stadiums during game time. Of course, people will continue to pay for tickets, and will undoubtedly watch it on television – after all, we’re paying money to support the less fortunate. If it goes really well, we can even have new jerseys made with the names of the most productive basket weavers (so long as they don’t get a pay raise for their productivity)! I just hope Sports Center will continue to cover the MLB.

technorati tags:mit, thetech, sports, salaries, athletes, pay, politics

I’ve been talking about starting up a podcast for far too long…and the time has come to make good on that promise.

So, it’s with great fanfare that I announce our new podcast: Turnip Soup. Turnip Soup is a weekly podcast where my buddies and I will talk about the sorts of things that show up here on Turnipville (and occasionally something you might find at Martini Geek). In other words, we’re going to put our usual hilarious spin on odd news stories, sports, tech, and whatever else might pop up during the show.

We’ve set up a command center, of sorts, over at Turnip Network. There, you’ll find subscription links for all of your favorite podcatchers, including iTunes and Odeo.

We’ve also thrown some flash-based players in the mix so that you can listen to the latest show without having to download anything.

For your convenience, here are some quick links to get you into the fray.

technorati tags:podcast, turnipsoup, turnipnetwork

Time to retire..

It kills me, but it’s time to retire the jersey, the undershirt, the hat, the gameday flag, the fake license plate, the hardhat (for when we’ve got to dig deep), and the plan-free Sundays…..until next season.

I’ve been here before – but I can’t recall it being this miserable. I love my Chargers.

I hate Sundays like this one; congrats, Pats.

technorati tags:chargers, nfl, patriots, playoffs, football

Reptile Men on ESPN

ESPN has, apparently, begun staffing their online video corps with lizard mutant men – as evidenced by this snapshot that I took last night. While I found his analysis to be a little underwhelming, it was incredibly impressive when you consider that it was probably developed while sunning on a rock.

I’ve always noticed that ESPN has been ahead of the pack in terms of diversity, but up until now it’s always been racial diversity; are we entering the era of special diversity?

technorati tags:espn, mutants

This series of commercials with classic coach press conferences is absolutely awesome. Even the Vermeil, and Walsh versions are priceless.

Have a gander.

technorati tags:jimmora, coorslight, commercial